A large proportion of leukemias and lymphomas of the B- and T-lymphocyte lineages carry characteristic chromosomal abnormalities (Yunis, (1983), Science 221:227-235). The finding of consistent chromosomal translocations directly involving the MYC and ABL oncogenes in, respectively, Burkitt's lymphoma and chronic myeloid leukemia (see Croce and Nowell, (1985), Blood 65:1-7; Kurzrock et al., (1988), N. Eng. J. Med. 319:990-998, for reviews) led to the hypothesis that chromosomal aberrations that alter the expression of specific genes are involved in the pathogenesis of human leukemias and lymphomas. In T-cell tumors, the majority of chromosomal abnormalities involve the T-cell receptor alpha/delta locus on chromosome 14 at band q11 (Croce et al., (1985), Science 227:1044-1047; reviewed in Rabbitts et al., (1988), Trends Genet. 4:300-304). The direct involvement of this T-cell receptor locus in t(8;14)(q24;q11), t(10;14)(q24;q11), t(11;14)(p13;q11), t(11;14)(p15;q11) and t(14;14)(q11;q32) translocations observed in acute T-cell leukemias has been demonstrated by molecular analysis of the breakpoints involved in these translocations (Finger et al., (1986), Science 234:982-985; Kagan et al., (1987), Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci., USA, 84:4543-4546; Kagan, et al., (1989), Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci., USA, in press; Boehm et al., (1988) EMBO J. 7:385-394; Boehm et al., (1988), EMBO J. 7:2011-2017; Mengel-Gaw et al., (1988), Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 85:9171-9175; Russo et al., (1988), Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci., USA 86:602-606). Human chromosome 1 band p32 aberrations have been detected in acute T-cell leukemia (Mathieu-Mahul et al., (1986), T.C.R. Acad. Sci. 302:525-528; Raimondi et al., (1987) Blood, 69:131-134, human cutaneous malignant melanomas (Balaban et al., (1986) Cancer Genet. Cytogenet. 19:113-122) and human neuroblastomas (Gilbert et al., (1982) Cancer Genet. Cytogenet., 7:33-42). However prior to the present invention the oncogene or oncogenes involved in these diseases had not been identified nor the chromosomal breakpoints located. Thus the only way to identify these aberrations is by cytogenetics, which is costly and technically difficult.
Thus there is a need in the art for molecular methods of identifying certain chromosomal abnormalities involving human chromosome 1 band p32 so that diagnosis and therapy of the diseases associated with the abnormalities can be performed routinely and inexpensively.